From the directive: “The word ‘undocumented’ is not based in U.S. code and should not be used to describe someone’s illegal presence in the country.” But the referenced code does not include the word “illegal,” either.

Protestors chant during a demonstration over today's visit to the city by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on June 26, 2018, in Los Angeles, California. More than a dozen protestors, including clergy, were arrested after blocking a downtown street while protesting the Trump administration's immigration policies.Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

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In its continued fight to dehumanize immigrants of color, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly instructed United States attorneys offices to use a term that immigrant rights activists have long identified as criminalizing.

From the email, whose subject is “Describing Alien Status in a press release”:

The word “undocumented” is not based in U.S. code and should not be used to describe someone’s illegal presence in the country. If an alien is legally present in the U.S., or that client’s legal status in the U.S. is unknown, unclear or absent from the public record at the time a press release is being issued, it is appropriate to describe their country of citizenship…. They should be described according to their citizenship, not their city or state of residence. For instance, “a Honduran citizen residing in Toledo” is correct. “Toledo man” doesn’t accurately describe his residency.

Immigrant rights and racial justice organizations have pushed for the abandonment of the word in describing humans. In 2010, Colorlines publisher Race Forward (then the Applied Research Center) launched Drop the I-Word, a campaign dedicated to pushing media outlets to stop using it. In 2013, The Associated Press updated its policy to stop using the word in reference to people; it’s a decision that impacts reporting for publications that reach more than half the world’s population.